ABSTRACT
The objective of this chapter was to analyse the evolution of the nutritional status of the Spanish population in the last 150 years based on the comparison between energy and nutrient needs and availabilities. It is also intended to evaluate the gender and generational differences that this nutritional status presents, basically according to factors of biological nature. From the mid-nineteenth century until the 1970s, a progressive and generalised improvement in the nutritional status of its population was observed in Spain, which was only interrupted between 1936 and 1950 due to the Civil War and the scarcity and repression of the first post-war period. In the last half-century, however, the nutritional status of the Spanish population has deteriorated once again, now due to the excesses and imbalances in the diet. In a context of a new stage of the nutritional transition process, the diet of the Spanish population has progressively moved away from the healthy Mediterranean diet. This phase is characterised by a large increase in the food availability, especially of animal origin, and a full industrialisation, globalisation and westernisation of the diet. Furthermore, all this evolution conceals great geographical, social and, particularly, gender and generational disparities, which historically have mainly affected the most vulnerable groups of the population: minors and women of childbearing age from the lower class and the lower income regions.
